The Pilgrim Fathers we all admire so greatly were men of high aspirations. They were trying to get their religion to return to what they termed "the primitive pattern" of the first-century church. They had read the Scriptural accounts (such as Acts 2 & 4) describing the life of love demonstrated in the daily life of the early church. They were sad to see the state of the church in their day which had become huge and powerful and brutal. They felt that the Church of Rome had gone far astray from the pattern of the early church. Though the Church adored the Virgin Mary, they neglected to imitate her own way of life.